Eh, I was bored.


It was a lovely snowy evening when Mr. Tumnus answered a knock at the door. His visitor was Mr. Beaver.

"Oh, what a pleasant surprise!" Mr. Tumnus said. "Do come in for tea, Mr. Beaver."

"Thank you Mr. Tumnus," Mr. Beaver replied, stepping inside.

It wasn't long before the two were situated in front of the fireplace, each holding a cup of hot tea. They were silent for a minute or two, until Mr. Beaver said, "I haven't seen you since last week, Mr. Tumnus. Horrible, wasn't it?"

"Oh, yes," Mr. Tumnus responded, frowning a little at the mention of the incident. It was indeed a horrible incident. Last week was when Miss Squirrel and Giant Rumblebuffin were to be married. The ceremony was quite lovely until it was time for Giant Rumblebuffin to kiss the bride. Since she was so small, the unfortunate Miss Squirrel was accidentally inhaled by Giant Rumblebuffin. And, since Giant Rumblebuffin had to bend over quite low to kiss her, in his surprise at swallowing his bride he toppled over and crushed most of her family.

"Anyway," Mr. Tumnus said, eager to change the subject, "how have you been, Mr. Beaver?"

Mr. Beaver's eyes darkened. "Oh, Mrs. Beaver ran off with a centaur."

Mr. Tumnus nearly dropped his cup of tea. He gaped at Mr. Beaver, quite unable to believe it. "I-I'm quite sorry Mr. Beaver, I had no idea-"

"Nothing to be done about it, though," Mr. Beaver said sadly.

Then, there was a knock at the door. Mr. Tumnus went to answer it and to his amazement, a centaur stood at the threshold.

"Is Mr. Beaver here?" the centaur asked.

Mr. Beaver stood up and went to the door. Mr. Tumnus moved to the side.

"I thought I saw you heading this way, Mr. Beaver," the centaur said. "I need to talk to you."

Mr. Beaver scowled at him. "About my wife, you mean?"

"Yes. You see, uh, I... I thought she was you."

Mr. Beaver and Mr. Tumnus both stared at him. The centaur dropped his gaze to the ground and he twiddled his thumbs. "Er, well, you and Mrs. Beaver both look exceeding similar and I saw her in the woods and I thought she was you, and I told her I loved her and she didn't say anything and I tried to bring her back to my cave and then she said that she hopes I realize she's married and I realized my mistake."

"So... you love me?"

"Very much, Mr. Beaver!" the centaur cried, his face turning pink.

Mr. Beaver smiled and said, "Well, if my wife ran off with you, I suppose I can, too. Shall we?"

"Let's!"

The two strode out into the woods hand-in-hand. Mr. Tumnus was left forgotten and alone.